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Polish President Karol Nawrocki refused on Wednesday to appoint 46 new judges, escalating his confrontation with the liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
In a post on X, he accused the judges nominated by the government of questioning Poland’s legal and constitutional order and of listening to “bad whisperings from the justice minister.”
“If the appointment is the prerogative of the president, he can also refuse this appointment,” he wrote.
Nawrocki also threatened not to appoint any new judges during his entire five-year term of office, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
The dispute comes amid an attempt by Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek to reverse changes to the legal system introduced by Poland’s former right-wing government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The PiS was persistently at odds with the European Union, which saw the independence of the judiciary as being under threat, until 2023 when Tusk’s liberal government took the helm in Poland.
Although Nawrocki, a critic of the EU, is officially non-partisan and not a PiS member, he opposes the efforts to reverse the previous judicial sector reforms.
Government spokesman Adam Szłapka said Nawrocki had overstepped his powers by rejecting the appointments.
The former head of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, Andrzej Zoll, also described the president’s confirmation of judges as a formality. The head of state had no right to review the nominations, Zoll told the Onet news portal.
Meanwhile Justice Minister Żurek demanded that the president justify his refusal to appoint new judges. Such a decision should be an administrative act that can be challenged in court, he said according to PAP.
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